A Narrow Cage
by Johinsa
Summary: Alternate ending to the dubbed Sailor Moon S episode "It's In The Cards".


A Narrow Cage

A Narrow Cage  
by Johinsa

"...Whose game was empires and whose stakes were thrones,  
Whose table earth, whose dice were human bones..."  
-- Lord Byron, "The Age of Bronze"

Author's Note: I just finished watching the dubbed Sailor Moon S episode "It's In The Cards". Basically, the Scouts, Reeny, and Hotaru are all trapped in an "altered space" controlled by a game-playing Heart Snatcher. The Heart Snatcher (her name sounds like Ikasaban, so that's what I'm calling her) insisted on playing a game with each of the Scouts, and if they won, they would be set free, but if they lost, they would have to stay. Hotaru was the last one to play, and of course she won, but Ikasaban cheated and decided they would have to stay anyway. Naturally, the Scouts were outraged. Which got me thinking: it's not like the Scouts honestly had any intention of honouring the deal they made either. I mean, do you really think they would have agreed to stay in the altered space forever if Hotaru had lost?

* * *

"You can do it, Hotaru!" Reeny urged her. "Come on! Just pretend we're in your room playing for fun. Relax."

Hotaru, biting her lip, slowly reached forward. "Are you sure that's the card you want?" the Heart Snatcher Ikasaban taunted.

Hotaru took a deep breath. "Yes," she said, and turned it over.

The grinning skull face of Death gazed blankly up at her. "The Joker!" Ikasaban pronounced gleefully. "You lose!" Sailor Moon's face fell. There was a soft _ping_, and Hotaru was encased in glass beside the others. Her head slumped forward, and she fainted.

"No!" Reeny wailed. "I won the game! You have to let us go!"

Ikasaban smiled. "That wasn't the deal."

"I'm not letting you keep my friends here! Moon Crystal Power!" Sailor Mini-Moon raised her wand and aimed it. "Pink Sugar Heart--Attack!" Nothing happened. Mini-Moon glared at the wand. "I said, Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" She shook it vigorously, and a stream of pink hearts shot out, nearly yanking the wand out of her hand. Flailing her arms wildly, she managed to fire in Ikasaban's general direction, but succeeded only in breaking the newest of the upright glass cages. Hotaru tumbled out, falling to her knees and forward onto her face. The wand stopped. "Hotaru! Run!" Mini-Moon shouted at the unconscious girl, aiming at Ikasaban again.

Ikasaban glared at her, then suddenly smiled. "You know," she said, "you're quite right. You did win."

Mini-Moon stopped. "Huh?"

"And you're a little pest anyway," Ikasaban continued. "I think I'll send you home after all."

"You're letting us go?" Mini-Moon asked, nonplussed.

Ikasaban's smile broadened. "I didn't say that." She waved her hand. There was a flash of light, and Mini-Moon disappeared--but only Mini-Moon. 

"Now," Ikasaban said, "as for the rest of you--oh, we're going to have such fun! I'm going to go and make up some special games for us to play. Ta-ta!" She too vanished. The glass cases disappeared at the same time, and the Scouts tumbled out. The bright lights in the games room went out, and the room was plunged into darkness.

Mars found her voice first. "Is everyone all right?" she demanded.

"I'm fine," Venus said. She reached out and her fingers touched someone. "Hotaru? Are you okay?"

"I--I think so," Hotaru said shakily. 

"Hey!" Sailor Moon exclaimed suddenly, startling everyone. "I just thought of something. If Mini- Moon's gone, we've only got one person to teleport with us. We could do it, couldn't we? Mercury?"

There was a dim blue glow somewhere off to the left as Mercury activated her visor, illuminating her face. "Well?" Jupiter asked after a few seconds had gone by. "Can we do it or not?"

Mercury shook her head. "No," she said, her expression numb, as though she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "We're too late. The time window's closed. I don't--I don't think we can get home now."

* * * * *

Mini-Moon reappeared with air under her feet. She shrieked involuntarily, but almost before the sound had escaped her throat, her heels hit the ground and she tumbled backwards to the floor. She groaned but got up quickly, bruised but unhurt, and looked around. She was in the front hallway of Dr. Tomoe's house. The other Scouts and Hotaru were nowhere to be seen.

"Hotaru?" she called uncertainly. "Sailor Moon? Anybody?"

"Who's there?" a woman's voice called. Mini-Moon, realizing that it wasn't one of her friends, quickly transformed back to her normal form. Dr. Tomoe knew she'd come over to see Hotaru, after all.

The woman emerged from a doorway. She had short red hair and wore thick glasses and a lab coat. "Who are you?" she asked, not quite rudely. "I didn't think there was anyone else here."

"Umm--hello," Reeny said, deciding it was best to play dumb. "My name's Reeny. Are you okay? There was an earthquake or something a few minutes ago--"

"Earthquake? Oh--yes, the--earthquake," the woman said with a smile. "I'm fine. How are you and Hotaru?"

"Hotaru said she was going downstairs to find her dad," Reeny lied glibly. "I just came down to look for her. Did you see her around anywhere?"

"No, I didn't, but I'll keep looking," the woman said. "Maybe you'd better go home now, Reeny. Your parents might be worried about you, you know. What with the earthquake and all."

Reeny nodded cheerfully. "That's a good idea," she said. "When you see Hotaru, tell her I went home, okay?" The woman nodded impatiently, and Reeny walked to the front door, fighting the impulse to run. She wanted to be out of the house as quickly as possible, but it would look wrong if she ran.

She pulled open the door and nearly tripped over Dr. Tomoe, who was sitting on the steps. He jumped to his feet. "Reeny!" he exclaimed. "But--where's Hotaru? And the Sailor Scouts?"

"The Sailor Scouts?" Reeny repeated. They must have told him they were going inside, she realized. Luna and Artemis stood in the yard, watching worriedly.

Tomoe grabbed her arm. "Don't lie to me, Reeny. How did you get out of the altered space? Where's my daughter?"

"You're hurting me," Reeny whimpered, stalling. "I don't know what happened. I really don't."

"Reeny!" someone exclaimed.

She looked up gratefully. "Amara!"

Amara firmly removed Reeny from Dr. Tomoe's arms. "Come on, Reeny," she said cheerfully, "I'll take you home." Michelle and Trista were standing across the street, watching. Dr. Tomoe's expression was anguished.

"But what about my daughter? Where are the Sailor Scouts?"

"I don't know," Amara answered honestly. "I'll let you know if we see her, though. Reeny, hold my hand." They crossed the street together, leaving Tomoe standing outside the open door of the house.

Trista was watching with a somber expression. "The time gate's closed," she said without preamble as Amara and Reeny returned. "Reeny, what happened in there?"

"The Heart Snatcher's holding everyone prisoner," Reeny answered, trying to be as calm as Trista sounded. "It let me go--it said I was a little pest and it didn't want me."

Michelle laughed and tousled Reeny's hair. "I guess sometimes it's an advantage to be a kid, isn't it?" Reeny squirmed away from her.

"Go on, Reeny," Luna said urgently. "You don't mean they're still in there, do you?" Reeny nodded. Trista looked around at the others. "This is bad," she said. "The time gate's already closed. The dimension they're in isn't connected to ours anymore; they aren't going to be able to get back."

"There has to be some way to rescue the Scouts," Amara said.

"And Hotaru," Reeny reminded her.

Michelle nodded. "And Hotaru, of course," she said. Amara frowned at her, but she pretended not to see. "I suggest we go see Darien," Michelle continued. "He might be able to help somehow. If things are as bad as you say, Trista, we'll need all the help we can get."

"Agreed," Trista said, but there was something in her soft voice that made Michelle hesitate. Amara and Reeny were already several steps ahead, and Amara didn't seem to notice as the other two dropped back.

"Trista," Michelle said quietly, "is it hopeless?"

Trista shook her head. "I don't know, Michelle. I honestly don't. The altered space that that Heart Snatcher created isn't stable; it's broken away from our universe now, and it's drifting off. I can still perceive it, but I can't touch it. It's as though it were a boat that's broken its moorings. I can see it floating away down the river, but I can't reach it now."

"And where is the river going?" Michelle asked. "What's going to happen to them?"

"I'm sorry," Trista said. "I just don't know."

* * * * *

The lights came on again, with a suddenness that hurt everyone's eyes. "I've thought of a game!" Ikasaban's voice announced gleefully. "We're going to have an obstacle race!"

Mars folded her arms across her chest. "We're not playing," she declared.

"Oh, yes you are!" Ikasaban corrected her. The floor around Mars suddenly dropped away. She shouted once and vanished. The other Scouts and Hotaru ran to the edge of the pit and stared down into the darkness, but there was nothing to see. "Next!" Ikasaban said. Venus and Jupiter disappeared as well. "That's the first team," Ikasaban explained to the three remaining. "You three are the second team. Whoever finishes the course first wins. The losers--" She chuckled. "I have something amusing in mind for the losers. The race begins--now!"

The room shimmered and changed around them, and suddenly Sailor Moon, Mercury and Hotaru found themselves in a featureless round space. The only break in the smooth grey walls was a tunnel, leading into blackness. "Do we go in?" Hotaru asked, looking at the others.

"I think we should," Mercury answered. "Maybe we'll find the others there."

"Besides, I don't want to lose," Sailor Moon added. "You heard what she said. Something bad's going to happen to us if we lose."

"Something bad's going to happen to the others if we win, though," Mercury pointed out. Sailor Moon nodded, evidently having just realized that herself. "We have to refuse to play. That's the only thing we can do."

"Is that right?" Ikasaban's voice taunted out of the air. "Then you'd better hope you're good swimmers!" Water began to trickle from the walls, pooling on the floor. Sailor Moon danced around, trying to keep her feet dry, but within seconds the water was ankle-deep.

"Come on!" Mercury said. "The tunnel slopes upwards! It's our only way out!" She took off into the tunnel, and the other two followed. Ikasaban's laughter hung mockingly in the air.

They ran until their lungs burned and their legs could carry them no further. The tunnel seemed to have no end. "We can't--keep going--like this," Mercury gasped at last, coming to a halt. There was no sound of water behind them now. "Has to be--another way." Hotaru nodded, too tired to speak. Her face was pale, almost grey, and she clung to the wall as though it was all that held her up. "Hotaru, are you all right?" Mercury asked as her own breathing began to return to normal.

"I'm fine." Hotaru managed a weak smile. "Really, I am."

"Let's rest here for a bit," Sailor Moon suggested. "We must be pretty far away from the water by now."

Mercury, having come to the same conclusion, was trying her communicator. "Sailor Mars? Sailor Jupiter? Can anyone hear me? Sailor Venus, please answer. Anyone?"

"I guess they don't work here," Sailor Moon said. "Mercury, do you--" She stopped and looked up. "What's that?"

Ahead of them, the passage brightened and widened out into another small room. Mercury took a few steps forward. "There's a door here," she reported. "And a box--Sailor Moon, come look at this."

Sailor Moon and Hotaru joined her in the little room. "It's a jigsaw puzzle!" Hotaru exclaimed. "I love puzzles."

"I wonder what it's doing here," Sailor Moon said.

"It must have something to do with the obstacle race," Mercury mused. "Look at the door. There's no handle, and I can't push it open." Sailor Moon tried the door, but was likewise unable to budge it, even when all three of them pushed together.

"I wish Jupiter was here," Sailor Moon said. "Or somebody. How are we going to get through the door?"

"The puzzle must be the key," Hotaru said. "Come on, you guys. I'm really good at puzzles." She emptied the box onto the floor. "Start looking for edge pieces. The border's always the easiest way to start."

"I wish there was a picture," Sailor Moon said. "I'm not very good at these."

"Just look for pieces with a straight edge," Hotaru instructed.

"And hurry," Mercury added. "We've got to find the others. They're probably somewhere ahead of us already."

* * * * *

Darien wasn't at his apartment; Reeny rang the doorbell for several minutes before realizing that there was no-one in the apartment to answer. "Where would he be at this time of day?" Trista asked.

"Home!" Reeny answered, frustrated. "Maybe he's out shopping or something. I don't know."

"He doesn't have a communicator or anything?" Michelle asked. Reeny shook her head. "That's bad."

"What do we need him for, anyway?" Amara wanted to know. "We can handle this on our own."

"No, we can't," Trista answered matter-of-factly. 

Amara put her hand on Trista's shoulder. Her hand was very light, as though she were worried that the other girl might shatter under pressure. "Tell us."

Trista took a deep breath. "I don't know much about this sort of thing," she said, "but I probably know more than anyone else. There are a number of dimensions beyond what we can perceive, some of them much more unlikely than others. They have only a tenuous link to our reality, and once something from outside intrudes on them, it's only a matter of time until they break loose altogether." Her voice had assumed a lecturing tone, one that Reeny remembered well from her lessons in Crystal Tokyo. "What we have here is a so-called altered space that's already come loose and is now drifting. It's still quite close by, relatively speaking, but we can't cross the boundary by normal means. Even the Scouts' teleport won't do it."

"I don't understand," Artemis said. "Why can't we just walk into the house?"

"The house was only the anchor point," Trista said. "Now that the altered space isn't attached any more, the Tomoe house is no closer to it than any other point in our world."

"So how do we get to it?" Michelle asked.

"We can't," Trista said simply.

"What are you talking about?" Reeny demanded. "We've got to go and rescue them! Hotaru and the Scouts could be in terrible danger!"

"I know, Small Lady," Trista said with a sigh. "But we can't reach them now. If I knew more about how this altered space formed, or how the Heart Snatcher is controlling it, I might be able to use my powers as Pluto to--to connect with it somehow. But there's no-one in this world with enough power to actually bring the others back from there. Maybe they can find a way back from their side, I don't know--but there isn't anything we can do."

"We have to!" Reeny shouted. "You can't just abandon them!"

"Reeny, no-one said--" Luna began.

"Yes you did! You're just going to leave them there! You can't do that!"

"Reeny, calm down!" Amara tried to take Reeny's hand, but she pulled away and ran down the hallway, sobbing. At the head of the staircase, she collided with Darien's legs.

"Reeny?" he said, setting down the shopping bags he carried. "Are you okay?" He looked up and saw the three women watching him. "What's wrong?"

"They want to abandon Hotaru!" Reeny shouted. "They're not even going to try to get her back and they're all going to be killed by that Heart Snatcher and it cheats at games and we can't just leave them there!" She flung her arms around him, wailing.

"Hold it, hold it," Darien said quickly. He knelt on the floor beside her. "Who's abandoning who?"

Trista quickly told the story, in somewhat abbreviated form. Darien listened closely, not speaking until she was done. "So we came looking for you," Trista finished. "Michelle thought you might be able to help."

Darien nodded. "I knew something was wrong," he said. "I transformed in the middle of the supermarket, and that doesn't happen unless Sailor Moon's in danger. But normally I can tell where she is, I'm drawn to her. This time--there was nothing. It was like there was nowhere I could go." He shook his head ruefully. "It was pretty frightening."

"But you've changed back," Amara observed. "Does that mean Moon-face is out of trouble for now?"

"It could," Darien said. "I don't know."

Trista was watching him thoughtfully. "You know, Michelle," she said, "you may have been right. He might be just what we need."

"I might?" Darien asked. "Why?"

"You could be our link," Trista answered. "On the one hand, you've got a connection to Sailor Moon--a connection that doesn't seem to be affected even by the separation. But on the other hand, you're solidly rooted in _this_ world; your powers come from here, after all. You may be able to function as a sort of bridge--something I can use to reach across."

"Then you can get them back!" Reeny proclaimed triumphantly. Trista shook her head.

"No," she said. "I told you before, I don't have enough power to do that. At the most, I might be able to keep the altered space from drifting further away, maybe make it easier for them to return. But they'll have to find the way back themselves."

Darien nodded. "Whatever I can do, I will," he said simply. "Can we start now?"

"We'd better," Trista answered. "The further away they drift, the harder this will be."

* * * * *

"Can't we _stop_?" Mars demanded, as she struggled to keep her balance on the wet and narrow log. Her question was directed not at the other Scouts, who were likewise engaged in crossing the swollen river, but at Ikasaban, who Mars knew was listening. "We can't keep going like this forever. We-- "

"Save your breath, Mars," Jupiter interrupted wearily. She jumped off the end of the log onto the bank and leaned against a tree to wait for the other two. They were back in the jungle scenery, but this time it was remaining steady. "Every time we try to stop, something's just going to happen to make us keep moving. We've got to get to the end of this crazy obstacle course, that's all."

"Maybe there _is_ no end," Mars muttered, but quietly; she didn't want to give the Heart Snatcher ideas. 

"We're going to have to eat sometime, anyway," Venus said from behind. "This is really stupid. All this running around things and climbing over things and crawling under things--doesn't this Ikasaban have any imagination?"

"Don't complain," Jupiter told her. "It could be a lot worse. We could have to play chess or something. Or we could have Sailor Moon and Mercury with us." She suddenly realized how that sounded, and blushed. "I mean--not that I don't wish they were, but--"

"But they'd have a lot more trouble with this course than you guys," Venus agreed. "Not to mention poor Hotaru." She frowned. "Guys--doesn't that strike you as a little weird? That the ones who wouldn't be able to do this stuff, don't have to? Ikasaban doesn't exactly seem like the generous type."

"Maybe it's coincidence," Mars said, reaching the end of the log. Jupiter caught her arm and helped her climb down.

"I don't believe in coincidence," Venus said firmly. "And I don't trust it when it happens to me."

* * * * *

"Almost done," Hotaru said with satisfaction, picking up the last few pieces in her hand. She had been right; she was excellent at jigsaw puzzles, even when she didn't have a picture to go by. Even now, the illustration on the puzzle was unclear: it was a soft blur of blues and greens and yellows, like an out-of-focus photograph.

"Well, come on," Sailor Moon said. "Let's hurry up and finish it."

Mercury nodded dispiritedly. "We might as well," she said. "It doesn't look like it's going to be much use, though. I'd hoped it would be a map or something."

"It's pretty, though," Hotaru said. She set the last piece in place. "There we--ohhh!"

The blurred colours shimmered and flowed across the surface of the puzzle. "Amazing," Mercury murmured, her visor slipping across her eyes. "Some sort of illusion?"

The image cleared. It was a jungle, with a river flowing through it. It was far more real than any photograph; they could almost hear the roaring river, and smell the steaming air. There was a narrow log spanning the river, and a tiny blonde figure was walking carefully across it, her arms spread wide for balance. "That's Venus!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. "And look--there are the others!" She reached over to point at the two girls standing on the bank, and her arm slid into the picture up to the wrist and stuck there.

"Are you okay?" Hotaru asked.

"No!" Sailor Moon wailed. "Pull me out!"

Mercury and Hotaru grasped her arm and pulled, but they couldn't seem to make any headway. Indeed, Sailor Moon seemed to be slipping further in. "I wish Jupiter were here," Mercury grunted.

"Jupiter hates puzzles," Sailor Moon pointed out. "Besides, she could have just broken down the door in the first place." She stopped. "Hey, why didn't I think of that? We could just smash the puzzle!" Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed the edge of the puzzle with her free hand, but her fingers slipped off and into the image. Both hands were now stuck. "That didn't help at all!" she cried. Her expression was so comically tragic that Mercury had to fight to keep from laughing.

"Come on, Hotaru," she said instead. "You grab one arm, I'll get the other. Dig your heels in. Ready? On three. One--two--three!"

When she said "three", the two of them yanked on Sailor Moon's arms. Her feet flew out from under her, and she stumbled forward into the picture, dragging the other two along. The puzzle picture seemed to have expanded somehow; they passed through without touching the edges, and found themselves falling in air.

"Hey!" Venus shouted from below, looking up just as the three appeared. Her arms windmilled wildly as she tried to keep her balance. Hotaru landed on Venus' back and clung tightly to her shoulders. Sailor Moon landed spread-eagled on the log and wrapped her arms and legs around it, spider-fashion; the log rolled slightly, and she lost her grip. Mercury never came close enough even to touch the log. She and Sailor Moon hit the river with almost a single splash.

Venus tried to reach out to throw her love chain, but was hampered by Hotaru still clinging to her back. Hotaru saw the problem quickly and clambered down, but by then Sailor Moon and Mercury had been swept out of reach.

* * * * *

Trista pulled her hand away from Darien's as he was suddenly enveloped in a glow of light. "He's transforming," Reeny exclaimed. "Tuxedo Mask, what's wrong?"

"Serena's in danger," he answered, jumping to his feet. "I have to get to her. I--" He was halfway to the door before his steps faltered and he turned back. "Sorry," he said a little sheepishly, sitting back down. "I didn't mean to do that. It just sort of happens."

"That's all right," Trista said. "Let's try this again. You might as well stay in that form; your connection with Sailor Moon is probably stronger this way anyway." She took his right hand in hers again and clasped their left hands around her staff. . "Now concentrate on the jewel and think about Serena. Let her fill your thoughts. She's somewhere very close. You have to find her. Concentrate."

Tuxedo Mask stared into the jewel, letting Trista's droning voice empty his mind. His sense of danger was urging him to move, but he had nowhere to go. The red jewel flickered, casting reflections on his face. _Tell me where to go_, he demanded of the red light. _Tell me how to find her. Now, before it's too late._

* * * * *

The four girls watched, stunned, as the other two were carried off. Jupiter was the first to recover her wits. "Come on!" she called, and without waiting for the others, she took off downriver at a run.

"Jupiter, stop!" Mars shouted. "You'll never catch them, and we shouldn't get separated!"

Reluctantly, Jupiter stopped and came back. Sailor Moon and Mercury were already out of sight around the bend of the river. "There has to be another way to get to them," Mars said thoughtfully. "Look--the river turns pretty sharply up ahead. Maybe if we go in a straight line through the trees we can catch up."

"More running?" Venus said with a sigh. Jupiter grinned; _she_ wasn't tired. Hotaru, though, looked about ready to faint.

Mars looked around, orienting herself. "That way," she said, pointing, and then dropped back to let Jupiter take the lead. The tall Scout quickly outdistanced the others. Venus did her best to keep up, knowing her powers might be needed, while Mars held back so that Hotaru wouldn't be left behind alone. The land was on a steep downhill grade here, which was a good sign; the river must turn that way.

They heard Jupiter's cry of dismay before they came out of the trees. She stood at the end of the path of trampled vegetation, on the shore of a wide pool. To the left, a waterfall thundered down in a cloud of spray. "They can't have come down this way," Jupiter said, shaking her head. "Those falls must be fifteen or twenty metres high."

"Sailor Moon?" Venus shouted. "Sailor Mercury!" There was no answer. "Maybe they got out of the river before they got here," she suggested.

"But what would they have done after that?" Mars asked. "I mean, should we wait here to see if they come this way, or would they try to walk back upstream to where we were? Or should we split up? I don't like that idea, but if there's no other choice--"

Venus frowned. "This is kind of funny, isn't it?" she said. "Right after I said how we were only getting physical challenges, Ikasaban sticks us with a mental one?"

"And Sailor Moon and Mercury have to deal with a physical obstacle now," Hotaru added. "All we had to do before was a jigsaw puzzle."

"You actually did that?" Jupiter asked, surprised. "In that little room after the tunnel? We just blasted the door down and it led to the jungle."

"All right," Mars said. "From now on, nobody speculates about this out loud anymore. Let's not give Ikasaban any more ammunition."

"So what do we do, though?" Hotaru asked.

Mars was silent for a moment, gazing up the waterfall. "I think we should split up," she said at last. "Hotaru, you stay here with Venus. If the others come back here, you two can call us on our communicators--"

"Um--Sailor Mars? They aren't working," Hotaru said tentatively. "We tried that earlier."

Mars took out her communicator and verified that it was indeed not working. "All right," she said. "If the others come back here, just stay put and wait. Jupiter and I will go back to where we were and walk downstream, looking for where they got out of the river. If we haven't seen any sign of them by the time we reach the waterfall, well--we'll decide what to do next if and when."

"All right," Jupiter said, sounding relieved that someone else had come up with a plan. "Let's go, then."

The two of them set off into the jungle again, not running but at a steady pace. It seemed a little cooler, to Mars; maybe she was imagining it, or maybe it was getting close to evening. The air was still thick and steamy, but no darker. Birds flashed and squawked and bickered overhead.

Retracing their steps, the two girls emerged again at the river. The bridging log, oddly, was gone. Some of the obstacles they and Venus had crossed before had disappeared the same way once they were crossed. Jupiter glanced at Mars, but made no comment. "Sailor Moon?" she called instead. "Sailor Mercury? Where are you?"

They walked along the bank, calling every few steps, and after several minutes they were answered. Sailor Mercury was kneeling at the edge of the river, dipping a piece of cloth in the water. "Jupiter! Mars!" she exclaimed. "Sailor Moon's been hurt. Are you--where are the others?"

"We split up to find you guys," Jupiter answered. "They're waiting downstream. How badly is she hurt? Is she going to be okay?"

Mercury shook her head, frustrated, and began to wring out the cloth. It looked as though it had been torn from the edge of her skirt. "I don't know," she said. "She hit her head on something in the water, I think; she was bleeding a lot when I got her out. It was a stupid accident, that's all."

She got up and headed back into the trees. Sailor Moon lay under a redwood a few metres back from the water, her eyes closed. Blood matted a large clump of hair to her scalp. "Can we do anything to help her?" Mars asked.

"I don't know," Mercury admitted as she began carefully to clean the wound. When most of the blood was wiped away, she tore away a second strip of cloth and tied the makeshift bandage around Sailor Moon's head. "Most first aid is really just for minimizing the damage until the ambulance arrives. Out here--" She sighed. "My visor's not too good for medical purposes, but she doesn't have any obvious skull fractures or anything, at least. But I can't check for concussion or internal bleeding or that sort of thing. We should try to wake her up, and keep her awake. That's what they always say you ought to do--" Mercury stopped, looking lost. "I just don't know."

"Why don't I go on back and get the others?" Jupiter suggested. "They'll be worried." Mars nodded distractedly, and Jupiter took off again, running.

"So we should keep her awake?" Mars asked. Mercury didn't answer. "Hey. Mercury."

"What? Oh. Yes, we should." She moved to Sailor Moon's other side and slapped her cheeks lightly. "Wake up, Serena. Sailor Moon. Come on."

Sailor Moon's eyes flickered open, then closed again. Mercury slapped her more firmly, and this time her eyes stayed open, though unfocused. She didn't seem to see either of the Scouts. "Darien?" she whispered.

* * * * *

"Serena?" His voice sounded odd to the others in the room, as though it were coming from very far away. "Hang on, Serena. I'm coming."

"Tuxedo Mask," Trista said firmly. "Darien, stay with me. Listen to the sound of my voice."

"Serena." He didn't seem to hear her. "I'm coming, Serena. Just hold on." 

The staff in Trista's hand was growing warmer, and the jewel burned. _This isn't right_, Trista thought. "Snap out of it, Darien," she ordered. "This is dangerous. Stop." The connection between him and Sailor Moon was stronger than she had thought, much stronger. "Darien, listen to me. I want you to let go of the staff. Stop thinking of her and let go. We'll try again later. Let go."

"No." His grip tightened, and for a moment he seemed to see Trista clearly. "She needs me. I have to go to her."

"Darien, please, let go--"

"No!" The jewel burst into brilliant light. The other three girls saw Darien and Trista suddenly silhouetted in red, and heard Trista cry out in pain. She tried to pull the staff away, Darien lunged forward, and then--

--he was gone. The light died down again and the jewel grew dull, and the only sound in the room was Trista sobbing.

"Are you all right?" Michelle asked, kneeling beside her. Trista nodded and carefully unclenched her fingers from around the staff. The skin on her palm was blistered and red. "What happened? Where is he?"

"It was too strong," Trista said when she found her voice again. "The two of them were too much attached; even the barrier couldn't hold against him. I was trying to use him to bridge the gap, and he--I don't know how he did it. He's gone to wherever she is. I can feel him there."

"He used your power?" Amara demanded. "Can we follow him?"

Trista shook her head. "No. I don't--" She closed her eyes for a moment, cocking her head as though listening. "He's still anchored here. We haven't lost him. I might be able to bring him back, in a few moments when my strength returns. I tried to fight him, to hold him here, and it depleted my energy more than I would have thought possible."

Amara frowned. "Trista, if you can bring him back--can you bring the others back with him, if they're together?"

She thought about it. "Maybe. I wouldn't know until I tried. I might end up with nothing, or worse."

"Worse than nothing?" Reeny asked. "What's that?"

"I might kill them, Small Lady," Trista answered simply. "If I managed to get them halfway and then couldn't hold on, there's no telling what might happen." It seemed odd to speak so bluntly about death to a child, Trista thought, but she reminded herself that this was no ordinary child; Reeny was a Sailor Scout, or almost one at least, and she deserved to be told the truth.

"But we can't just not do anything," Reeny protested. "We have to try." She patted Trista's hand, as though she were the one whose role it was to give comfort. "Don't worry, Pluto. My mom and dad will work out what to do. We just have to help them."

"I'm sure they'll be fine," said Michelle. "Trista, will you be able to tell when he's trying to return?"

"Probably," Trista said.

Amara nodded. "Then all we have to do is wait."

* * * * *

Darien's shoulders struck the concrete floor hard, and the breath _whuffed_ out of him in an explosive gasp. Black spots swam in front of his eyes as he stared up at the ceiling, where the burst of energy that had brought him here--wherever here was--faded away.

"Very nice landing," a woman's voice said. "I can see gymnastics isn't your strong suit. Too bad."

He leapt to his feet, ignoring the protest of his bruised muscles. Seated in a plastic folding chair on the other side of the room was a Heart Snatcher, dressed like the Queen from a deck of playing cards. "Come," she invited him, gesturing to another chair at the cheap-looking card table. "Sit. Join me."

"Where are Sailor Moon and the others?" Darien demanded. He reached into his jacket for a rose, and realized with a shock that he was wearing his ordinary school sweater--that he was, at the moment, not Tuxedo Mask at all. The Heart Snatcher laughed.

"Do you think I would have let you all the way into my little hideout with your powers intact?" she asked with a thin-lipped smile. "My name is Ikasaban. Sit."

Cautiously, Darien crossed the room to join her. The chairs and table were dusty, inlaid with what looked like years of grime and dirt. The whole room was like that: cobwebs clustered in corners, piles of junk stacked haphazardly by the walls, a few bare lightbulbs hanging from exposed rafters. "This is Trista's altered space?" Darien muttered to himself. "It looks like somebody's basement."

Ikasaban shrugged. "This is how I choose to perceive it. I could make it a palace, if I wanted; but to what end? It isn't like I have many visitors." She looked at Darien, smiling as though she already knew the retort that hovered on his lips. "Ah, but you don't count, you see? You're only here to amuse me, so it isn't as though I have to cater to your tastes."

"I'm here to get my friends back," Darien insisted.

"Whatever," Ikasaban said in a bored tone of voice. "Tell me, what games do you like? Do you play board games? Chess, checkers, things like that?"

"A little," Darien admitted.

"Are you any good?"

"Not very."

"Oh, good," Ikasaban said delightedly. "I was worried that this wouldn't be a challenge for you." She snapped her fingers, and an empty chessboard appeared on the table. "I do love games," she said. "I played some games with your friends, to gamble for their freedom. They lost."

"What did you do to them?" Darien growled.

"They're enjoying my hospitality," Ikasaban said silkily. "They're taking part in one of my more elaborate games. Any moment now they're going to learn why it's a bad idea to be in a forest during a lightning storm. I think I'll set the jungle on fire. Did you know Sailor Mercury is afraid of fire? She's good at giving first aid, though; Sailor Moon should be grateful."

Darien, knowing she was baiting him, clenched his fists in his lap and tried to keep his voice and expression calm. "You said you gambled for their freedom," he said. He looked at the chessboard. "Will you play a game with me? If I win, you let us all go. If I lose, I'll stay."

"But those are unequal stakes," Ikasaban pointed out. "Six to one. We'll have to make it more fair somehow--I know! I'll choose a new game, one you don't know. That'll make things even." She saw him looking dubious and frowned. "Fair is fair, after all."

"All right," Darien said. "I'll play."

"How nice of you." Ikasaban gestured, and six game pieces appeared on Darien's side of the board, in the second row. At first glance he thought they were chess pieces, and that gave him a moment's panic; all he knew about chess was the two weeks' worth of lessons that he'd once taken, before he gave up in order to take a microwave cooking class. 

They weren't chess pieces, though. Each one was different, each a human figure, and though small and uncoloured, they were beautifully carved. They looked to Darien like statues, tiny Greek statues of women. "These are your pieces," Ikasaban explained, touching each in turn. "The Queen." A stately figure in a long dress, with a delicate crown on her head. "The Musician." A girl seated with her legs crossed, strumming a harp. "The Archer." A slender woman with an arrow nocked and drawn. "The Victor." An athlete in a short belted tunic, with a wreath of laurel leaves around her neck. "The Courtier." Another in an ornate dress, but with only a simple circlet on her head. "The Harrower." A fragile-looking girl with a long pike or mattock in her hands. "And now, my pieces." The first three rows on Ikasaban's side were suddenly filled with red pieces. "Are you ready to play?"

"Wait a minute," Darien said, staring at the board. Six pieces. "You didn't."

"Play, Darien," Ikasaban said with a smile. "No, those are not physically your friends; but I would be very careful about which pieces I sacrificed, if I were you."

* * * * *

"Some obstacle course!" Venus shouted over the shrieking of the wind, as the six girls struggled through the dense undergrowth. Rain stung their skins and plastered their dresses to their bodies. The ground was turning into a sea of mud, and the jungle into a swamp. "What's the point of this? Where are we supposed to end up?"

"No end," Mars answered. "Haven't you figured that out? She'll keep us in here as long as it amuses her, and when it doesn't, she'll move us somewhere else. The idea that we've got some kind of goal is just something she told us to keep us running." She pushed through a clump of hanging vines and her foot came down into a mudhole up to the knee. "Damn it!"

"Then why can't we _stop_?" Hotaru wailed. "If there's no point in going on, can't we stop? Why do we have to get to higher ground? If the mud and the rain's not even real--"

"No good," Mercury answered, with a glance at Sailor Moon, who was stumbling along almost blindly with Venus' hand on her arm pulling her along. "We know we can get hurt here, and we know Ikasaban doesn't care if we do. We have to play along even though we know it isn't real, or some of us might not survive this."

They were moving steadily uphill, away from the rising river. Ahead the land crested into a rocky hillock, nearly devoid of trees or other vegetation. "If we can get up there," Jupiter called, "we can wait out the storm there, probably."

"Yeah, that's really likely," Mars muttered, but followed Jupiter anyway as the tall Scout clambered up the tumbled rockpile. There was nowhere else to go, after all, and no point in staying put. Something about that thought nagged at Mars' mind, but she couldn't quite get the thought into focus, and it slipped away as she concentrated on climbing.

"Come on, Sailor Moon," Venus said encouragingly. "Just a little farther." Sailor Moon nodded tiredly. Just walking seemed to be taking up all her energy. That too should be significant, Mars thought, but once again the meaning of the thought eluded her. 

There was a small hollow at the top of the rocky hill, a crater-like depression large enough for them all to fit inside. The high sloping walls offered a bit of shelter from the rain, but the water that had collected in the bottom of the hollow was nearly waist-high. Mercury surveyed the rocks with a critical eye. "This should be all right, I think," she said. "Venus, if you could make a couple of drainage holes, here and here-- "

"No problem," Venus said cheerfully. She pointed theatrically at the rock and lashed out with her energy chain, once, twice, and then skipped out of the way to avoid the cascade of outrushing water. "Good enough?"

"Perfect," Mercury said. It took only a few minutes for the hollow to drain completely, and then they climbed inside. The rain hadn't slackened at all, but the walls blocked a good deal of it. They were still soaking wet and cold, but it was a slight improvement.

"All we need now is a campfire and some marshmallows," Venus said lightly.

"Don't talk about food," Jupiter answered with a sigh. "I wonder if that Heart Snatcher realizes we have to eat eventually? I haven't seen anything that looked even remotely edible in this jungle, and I've been looking."

"Well, at least we've got a chance to rest for a bit," Mercury said. "Sailor Moon, let me take a look at your head again. I should probably change that bandage."

As Sailor Moon bent over to let Mercury slip the bandage from her forehead, Mars sat down on a fallen stone and stared out at the rain. Thunder rolled intermittently, and the broad leaves bent and dripped into the mud. The air still felt thick despite the cold. _We have to get out of here_, Mars thought. _That's what we should be working on, not worrying about getting through the stupid Heart Snatcher's obstacles_. Then, with a flash of insight as bright as any stroke of unnatural lightning: _That's why she's put us here in this jungle! She's occupying us so we can't plan. Before, she had us playing separately and the others watching; now we're all here together, so none of us have the chance to do anything. But why? As a delay, obviously, since she isn't going to keep this up forever. There must be something we can do that she doesn't want us to think of. Maybe there's a way to escape after all._

"Hey, Mars?" Venus tapped her shoulder. "Do you think you can make a fire? I'm really worried about Hotaru." She glanced over at the little girl, who was sitting on the damp ground with her arms wrapped around herself. "Jupiter and I have gathered some wood; it's pretty wet, but maybe you can do something with it."

Mars nodded, looking at the shivering child and then up at the streaming sky. Lightning flickered above the screen of leaves. "I'll try, but I don't know how well it'll work. Hey, Mercury?"

Mercury raised her head. "What is it?"

Quickly Mars outlined her thoughts, as she gathered the sopping wood into a neat pile at the base of the rock wall. "So I thought you might have some idea," she finished. "Is there something we might have overlooked?"

"I don't know," Mercury said. "I can't detect our universe with my computer at all; I lost all contact when the time gate closed. We have to assume that the two spaces have been drifting steadily apart since then--" She stopped. "Wait," she said, thinking. "Maybe--"

"What?" Sailor Moon asked.

"Well, what if that assumption is wrong? What if they aren't drifting apart? According to what we know about this altered space, they should be, but what if something's holding them together?"

"Or someone," Jupiter said, nodding.

Sailor Moon smiled. "Reeny."

"Reeny must have gone to find Pluto," Mercury said. "We know she has powers far beyond ours, and she can control time--maybe she's keeping the universes close together."

"And that Heart Snatcher is trying to delay us," Mars finished, "so we won't be able to do anything about it until it's too late." Thunder rumbled ominously overhead. "We'd better hurry up and work this out now, before she decides we've had enough of a rest break."

Mercury nodded. "Well, Pluto probably can't bring us back, or she already would have. So it's up to us to get ourselves out. Ideas, anybody?"

"What would happen if we killed Ikasaban?" Jupiter asked.

"Then this space would be uncontrolled," Mercury answered. "Ikasaban is giving the altered space its shape; if she were gone, anything could happen. I don't think we can take that risk."

"Okay, bad idea," Venus said. "What else? We can't teleport out of here unless the time gate is open; can we _make_ it open?"

"I don't know how," Mercury said. "I'm sure Ikasaban could do it, but I'm not sure how we would make her. She obviously isn't going to free us willingly."

"Hey, I got it!" Mars exclaimed suddenly, looking down at her handiwork. A small fire blazed in the lee of the wall, sheltered by a screen of rocks. "Come on, Hotaru, sit over here."

"I've got an idea," Hotaru said tentatively as she and the others reseated themselves in a tight circle around the fire. She glanced around at the jungle. "Do you think that thing is listening to us?"

"Probably not unless we're doing something entertaining," Mars said. "Why?"

"Well," Hotaru said, "what if one of us pretended to be sick or hurt or something? Then they wouldn't be able to be entertaining anymore and the monster might send them home."

"But the rest of us would still be stuck here," Sailor Moon objected.

"That's true," Mercury said slowly, "but I'd be able to see exactly what happened, and maybe I could duplicate it. Then the rest of us could get out."

"But how do we know she _would_ send the person back?" Mars asked. "If it takes a lot of energy to open the time gate, she might just decide to kill them out of hand instead."

"She sent Reeny back," Jupiter pointed out. "Oh--but that was before the time window closed."

Mars nodded. "I don't think we can take the risk."

"Hey, shouldn't I get to decide that?" Sailor Moon protested. "I'm the leader, aren't I?"

"Were you going to argue?" Mars asked.

"Well, no, but--"

"I'll take the risk," Hotaru said firmly. The others turned as one to look at her. "It was my plan," she said. "I'm willing to try it."

"Hotaru," Mercury said gently, "it could be very dangerous."

"I know. But--I mean, what else can we do? Someone has to get the monster to open the time gate, and it might as well be me--I'm the most useless one here, after all."

"Hotaru!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. "How can you say that?"

"I mean--" Hotaru shook her head, obviously fighting back tears. "I don't have any powers like the rest of you, I don't understand what's going on, I can hardly even keep up and I know I'm just slowing you down, I--" She stared into the fire, a tear trickling unnoticed down one cheek. "I couldn't even save Reeny," she said quietly. "If you guys hadn't come in after us, she would have fallen off the cliff and died. I couldn't help her."

"You don't have to prove anything, Hotaru," Jupiter protested. "No-one expects you to be superhuman, and you don't have to expect it of yourself. You're a very brave person, Hotaru, but you don't have to do this."

"I'm not brave," Hotaru said in a small voice.

"You _are_," Jupiter insisted. "Hotaru, we all saw what you did back there at the cliff. You held on long enough that you both could be rescued. You didn't let her go, even when she pulled you over the edge; you _fell_ because you wouldn't let go. That's one of the bravest things I've ever seen someone do."

"Jupiter's right," Mars said. "And you're right too, Hotaru; your plan's a good one. But I don't think you should be the one to carry it out. One of us ought to do it; that's our job, after all. We're supposed to protect people. I think I should do it."

"Or me," Jupiter said quickly. The others raised their voices to volunteer as well.

"Not Mercury," Venus said. "She's the only one who can work the computer. And not Sailor Moon, either; we might need the power of the Silver Crystal."

"She's right," Mars said, when Sailor Moon looked about to argue. "Besides, whoever it is will have to be a good enough actress to pretend to be injured--we don't want to _really_ break someone's leg or something, after all--and I don't think you can do that, Sailor Moon." Sailor Moon nodded reluctantly. "That lets you off too, Jupiter." The tall Scout glowered, but didn't protest.

"What about me?" Venus asked. "I can fake being hurt pretty well, and I'm not really needed here."

"Yes, you are," Mars said. "Remember, we can't kill Ikasaban, or we might destroy this space and everything in it. But we might well have to immobilize her, and your powers are best for that. I'm really the only choice."

There was silence for a moment, but no-one said anything to argue. "All right," Sailor Moon said at last. "That's settled, then. Now what?"

"Now we get some sleep," Venus answered with a yawn. "We're all tired, and since we can't make our move until Ikasaban does, I suggest we rest while we've got the chance." Suiting action to words, she lay down on the rock and curled up like a cat with her head by the fire. The others did the same, and within minutes all six were asleep.

* * * * *

Darien fingered the tiny sculpted figure of the Archer. "You know, this really isn't fair," he said. "You could tell me the rules, at least."

"Then it wouldn't be a challenge, would it?" Ikasaban said cheerfully. She picked up one of her multiformed red pieces and set it down on a diagonal square. "Your move."

The game, so far as Darien understood it, seemed to be basically the same as checkers, except that there were some moves that his pieces weren't allowed to make--generally any move that would let him take one of Ikasaban's pieces. With less than a third as many pieces as the Heart Snatcher had, and unwilling to lose any of them, Darien had to play defensively, keeping his six figures running from square to square to avoid capture.

"Hurry up, Darien," Ikasaban said. "I'm sure your little friends are as bored as I am." Darien scrutinised the board, then slowly picked up the Harrower and moved it. Too late, he saw that the Heart Snatcher's pieces had boxed him in, and he tried to snatch the piece back. "Too late!" Ikasaban exclaimed gleefully. One of her own pieces, a tree whose branches seemed to end in curving claws, moved onto the same square. The board split in the centre and unfolded into a television screen. "Now you'll see why I find this game so entertaining," Ikasaban said, smiling. "Kizoku, go!"

* * * * *

Jupiter jerked upright as a shrill scream split the air. "Wake up, guys!" she shouted. "Something's happening!"

"What? What is it?" Sailor Moon said.

"Whatever it is, it's close by," Mercury said. She had her visor on already and was scanning the surrounding jungle. The rain had stopped while they were asleep, and it had gotten very dark. "There are five or six of them, moving around us."

"Five or six _what_?" Jupiter insisted. Then her eyes widened as she looked over Mercury's shoulder. "Uh--nevermind."

Mercury turned and, at first, saw only trees; then one of the trees moved, stretching out thick roots to clasp the bare rock and haul itself forward. It had no eyes, but it seemed to sense the girls anyway. Now more of the trees were converging on them from all sides. Mercury counted seven, and some indefinite movement farther back that could be more.

"Mars Celestial Fire--Surround!" The fireballs shot out from the black-haired Scout's hands, and the two trees closest to her shrank back, their wet limbs hissing and smouldering. They didn't seem to be badly hurt, and in moments they were advancing again.

"This way!" Sailor Moon called, running into the jungle in a direction where the only trees were the unmoving kind. Mercury followed on her heels, her visor switched to infrared, and Jupiter and Mars brought up the rear. The trees rumbled after them, pushing their unmoving cousins aside in their haste to reach the Scouts. They seemed possessed of frightening strength.

"Where are we going?" Venus said. "We can't outrun them in this terrain. We have to fight, at least to slow them down a little."

"We're at too much of a disadvantage in this jungle," Mercury answered over her shoulder. "We've got to get out into more open space, otherwise they'll overwhelm us. Careful here, it's steep."

"So where are we going?"

It was Sailor Moon who answered, surprisingly enough. "The waterfall pool. They probably can't swim, or at least they can't attack while swimming. _We_ have powers that work at a distance."

"Good plan," Mars said approvingly. She peered ahead, but could see almost nothing in the darkness. "But it only works if we actually get there. Running like this in the dark, we could end up just about anywhere."

"Hotaru!" Jupiter shouted suddenly.

"Help!" Hotaru shrieked. She had tripped and was now sliding and rolling down the hill at breakneck speed. "Help! Somebody!"

"Venus Love Chain Encircle!" Venus flung out her arm, but the thick jungle and the darkness made it impossible to aim the chain with any accuracy. It returned uselessly to her hand.

"Come on!" Sailor Moon said. "We've got to help her!" She started to run. Mars grabbed at her arm to slow her down and ended up pulling them both off-balance. They tumbled downhill together in a tangle of limbs. Mercury sighed and continued to pick her way down the slope. The tree monsters followed steadily; they couldn't move very fast on an angle, it seemed, but their wide roots gave them better purchase than human feet could and they were never in danger of losing their balance.

"I can see them," Mercury reported to the other two, looking through her visor. "They've stopped falling. Sailor Moon and Mars seem okay. They're getting up. Hotaru's still lying on the ground. The others are moving toward her."

"Is she hurt?" Jupiter asked.

Mercury shrugged. "I can't tell from up here. We'll have to get down to where they are."

* * * * *

"Ow," Sailor Moon said matter-of-factly. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. You just _had_ to push us down the stupid hill, didn't you."

"I was trying to stop you from breaking your stupid neck, and this is the thanks I get?"

"Oh, yeah, thanks, thanks very much," Sailor Moon grumbled. "I guess I should be glad you don't try to do me favours more often." She looked around. "Hotaru must have come down this same way. Hotaru! Where are you?"

A weak moan answered her. They found Hotaru lying in the underbrush a few metres away, under a tree that she had apparently struck on the way down. She lay on her side with her legs drawn up. "Sailor Moon?" she said in a small voice.

"I'm here, Hotaru." Sailor Moon crouched down beside her. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" There was no blood visible, and she looked normal.

"I can't breathe," Hotaru said. "It hurts--" She broke off with a tiny gasp.

"Maybe she has some broken ribs," Mars suggested. "Hotaru, does anything else hurt besides your chest?"

"No, I don't think so," Hotaru said. She was very pale, like a white mushroom against the mossy ground. "No, but I don't think I can get up."

Mars looked up at the sky. "Ikasaban!" she shouted. "What are you doing? Are you going to let her die?"

"Die?" Sailor Moon repeated, alarmed. "Mars, what--?"

"Plans change," Mars said briefly. "Be quiet." She addressed the empty air again. "You have to send her home. She needs to be in a hospital. Keep the rest of us here if you have to, but send her back. Please." She glanced quickly at Sailor Moon, but saw no comprehension in her eyes. _Please_, Mars thought fervently. _Please, meatball head, don't say anything to screw this up._

* * * * *

"Please," the image of Mars begged. Darien watched Ikasaban's face, but he could tell nothing of her thoughts from her expression. It was hardly a face at all, really; like all Heart Snatchers, she was not quite close to human.

She stood. There was an odd stiffness in the way she moved, as though she were in pain and trying not to show it. "My new playmates seem determined to injure themselves," she said. "Excuse me a moment." "Are you going to help her?" Darien demanded. Ikasaban shrugged, a masklike smile on her white lips. She raised her hands, jumped, and dove fingers-first into the screen.

Darien watched in alarm as, in the picture, the Heart Snatcher's hands began to glow. Hotaru's body shone likewise, as though lit from beneath her skin. She began to rise into the air, and a shudder ran through her as she was moved. _That thing is killing her_, Darien thought, outraged. He reached automatically for a rose and this time he found it; apparently Ikasaban had forgotten about suppressing his powers for now. Tuxedo Mask looked down at the screen. _I hope this works_. He took a deep breath, crossed his fingers, and jumped.

* * * * *

They saw the glow through the trees before they could make out anything else. "It's working," Mercury said wonderingly. "I can see the time gate opening." Her fingers tapped the keys of her pocket computer, even as her feet unerringly found the path.

"It's sending Mars back?" Jupiter asked. Mercury shook her head.

"No, Hotaru. She must really be badly hurt for Mars to risk this. She wouldn't have changed the plan without reason."

Venus glanced back at the trees behind them and flicked her chain at the nearest. It recoiled with an angry crunching sound, like someone walking violently through a pile of dead leaves. Then they were at the bottom, and the others were visible.

Mars looked at Mercury. The blue-haired Scout nodded slightly: it was working. Ikasaban paid no attention to either of them, concentrating. The small girl's body rose into the air.

_Why is she doing this?_ Mercury wondered. _I can see why she'd want to get rid of Hotaru; it slows down the game if we have to take care of her. But why is she willing to send her home, with the amount of energy it takes to open the time gate? It doesn't make any sense_. They knew well enough by now that Heart Snatchers had no compassion for humans. _Of course, this Heart Snatcher isn't exactly typical, either. It hasn't shown any interest in stealing heart crystals, just in this strange game. We can't really predict what it might do._

Mercury reminded herself to keep her eyes on Ikasaban and Hotaru. Every byte of information she could gather might turn out to be vital.

There was a sudden disturbance in the air above the glowing pair. "Darien!" shouted Serena, who was the first to recognise the figure falling from the sky.

"How dare you hurt an innocent girl!" Tuxedo Mask declaimed, landing in a crouch on the ground. "I won't stand for it!" He straightened up and looked at the Scouts. "Come on, Sailor Scouts; we can defeat her if we work together."

"Are you insane?" Mars shrieked at him. "Do you realize what you've done?"

The glow vanished as Ikasaban turned to confront the new threat, and Hotaru crashed to the ground. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she hit the ground, and she lost consciousness. Behind the Scouts, the walking trees closed ranks and waited. "We've got no choice now," Sailor Moon said, with an accusing glance at Tuxedo Mask. "We have to fight."

Mars nodded. "Just don't kill it," she said, and pressed her fingertips together. "Mars Celestial Fire Surround!" Ikasaban flung up her arms, and the fire rebounded from her long gloves. She snapped her fingers imperiously at the waiting row of trees. As one, they began to move.

"Supreme Thunder Crash!" Jupiter was concentrating with all her strength, but even she didn't expect how powerful the blast would be. The sky, still charged with the previous day's storm, split open in a dozen lightning bolts, striking the trees with deadly accuracy. In moments, they were nothing but burned splinters. Ikasaban screamed.

"Now, Sailor Moon!" Tuxedo Mask urged, sensing an end to the battle. "Destroy her!"

Mercury stared at him. "Don't you know what would happen if she did?"

"I'll get you all for this," Ikasaban vowed, and disappeared. The Scouts and the unconscious Hotaru were left by themselves. It was Mars, naturally, who broke the silence.

"Tuxedo Mask," she said, as calmly as she could, "normally, we're very grateful for your help. But this time, what the _hell_ did you think you were doing?"

"Trying to help Hotaru!" Tuxedo Mask answered indignantly. "Which none of you were making any effort to do! Why didn't you destroy that monster when you got the chance?"

"If we destroy Ikasaban, this altered space we're in will probably be destroyed as well," Mercury answered. She looked at him curiously. "Didn't Pluto tell you that before she sent you? I was sure she would work it out."

"Pluto didn't send me," Tuxedo Mask said. "She was using me to keep hold of this universe, to keep it from drifting off--"

"I was right," Mercury realized quietly.

"--because of my connection to Sailor Moon, you know. So we were using her Garnet Rod, and all of a sudden I felt like Serena was in danger--"

"Just now?" Mars asked, confused. 

"No, this was earlier," he answered. "Yesterday, I guess."

"When she fell in the river," Jupiter said, nodding. "Makes sense."

Tuxedo Mask quickly related the rest of what had happened to him. "Then she captured the piece called the Harrower, which I guess had to be Hotaru, since it's the only one I couldn't place. That's when those tree things appeared. Then you guys fell down the hill, and we heard what you said, Mars, and I thought Ikasaban was going to kill her. I really did."

Mars sighed. "It was an honest mistake. Forget about it. Maybe we can still pull this off. Mercury, how much of a reading were you able to get? We're counting on you now."

Mercury shook her head. "I don't know. I'm analysing the information I got now; maybe the computer can work out the rest. It'll be a few minutes before I know."

"Mercury?" Venus said. "Can you take a look at Hotaru while you're doing that? She really doesn't look too good, and I don't know what to do."

"What do you think _I_ can do for her?" Mercury snapped. "I don't know what to do any more than you do! Yes, she's hurt; we knew that already. What else can I tell you?" She turned away, her eyes firmly on the computer.

"She's right," Jupiter said, seating herself on the ground beside Hotaru and Venus. "If there was anything she could do, she'd have done it already."

"I know, but--" Venus spread her hands wide, words failing her. "Someone should do something," she said.

"And Mercury's most likely to know what. I know," Jupiter said quietly. "But, honestly, we're all pretty helpless here. She can't do any more than we can, and I think it upsets her more than she wants to admit. It's hard to have to disappoint people." She touched Venus' hand. "So let's give her a break, okay?"

"Okay." Venus smiled. "When'd you get so insightful?"

Jupiter grinned back. "Insightful? Me? I get all my insights from fortune cookies. Don't--"

"Finished!" Mercury said, turning back to the others. "This is all the data I was able to collect, and everything I extrapolated from it." She turned the computer around. A column of numbers marched down each side, and the centre was dominated by a green line graph. "You can see there are gaps, but this is how the time gate works, in general."

Sailor Moon squinted at the numbers, suspecting them of being deliberately incomprehensible. Numbers did that to her on a regular basis, it seemed. "So can we make one of these?"

Mercury shook her head. "No. The time gate is a function of Ikasaban's ability to mold space. We can't do that."

"We have the Silver Crystal," Mars pointed out. "It couldn't possibly take more power than that, could it?"

"It's not a question of power," Mercury said. "What matters is control. Ikasaban is the one who holds the shape of this space in her mind; we can't do anything to it that she doesn't want us to."

Tuxedo Mask frowned. "That can't be right," he said. "Pluto and I made a gateway from our world to here, and that was by accident. Why is it so hard to make one from here?"

"Because in our world, there isn't a specific person controlling the shape of spacetime," Mercury explained. "Even Pluto's only a supervisor, really. This world is in Ikasaban's control."

Even as she said it, she could tell that the others were following her words to the same inescapable conclusion. "So we'll have to get control away from her," Jupiter said.

"But she's part of this place, you told us," Venus said. "How can we get control without killing her?" She looked at Mercury. "We can't, can we. We're going to have to kill her after all."

"It's too dangerous," Mars protested. "If this space is destroyed before we can form the gate, we'll all die."

"I don't think we have a choice," Sailor Moon said. Mars began to speak, but Sailor Moon cut her off. "We have a time limit, you know. Pluto's been holding this two spaces together for at least twenty-four hours now, and there's no way to know how much longer she can do it."

"There's no way to know if she's already stopped, for that matter," Mars pointed out. "And if we try to make the gate and the universes aren't even connected anymore, we could find ourselves stepping out into nothingness."

Mercury shivered, but said, "I think we have to risk it. There's nothing else to do."

"I agree with Mars," Venus said. "It's not safe."

"Nobody's saying it's _safe_," Jupiter answered. "The only question is whether it's necessary. I say it is."

Venus nodded reluctantly. "All right."

"Mars?" Sailor Moon said.

"I'm in if the rest of you are," Mars said. "I still think this is a bad idea, but we've got to stick together, after all." She looked around. "So what exactly do we do?"

"Find the Heart Snatcher, obviously," Venus said. "But I don't--" She stopped. "Do you hear something?"

With a sudden hungry roar, the smouldering remains of the dead tree-monsters burst into flame. "Looks like the game's started again," Jupiter said drily. "Tuxedo Mask, help me with Hotaru."

The managed to get Hotaru draped over Jupiter's shoulders in a fireman's carry, and then they set off at a run. Already the flames were licking at the treetops nearby. The jungle seemed incredibly dry-- impossibly dry, in fact, given the torrential rains of the day before. But, as Mercury had pointed out, this was Ikasaban's world.

The fire at least gave them a light to see by as they ran toward the river. Despite her burden, Jupiter took and kept the lead. Sailor Moon lagged behind, tripping and falling often on the treacherous ground, and several times Tuxedo Mask had to pull her to her feet to keep them ahead of the onrushing flames.

"There's the water!" Mercury shouted. 

They came out of the trees at the low end of the waterfall pool, where the outflow disappeared underground. "We should get right up under the falls," Mars said loudly. "It's safer."

"But that's the direction where the fire is!" Sailor Moon protested.

"Don't argue!" Mars snapped. "I know what I'm doing."

"All right," Sailor Moon said reluctantly, backing down. "Come on, guys. Follow Mars." They made their way through the cold chest-deep water, keeping to the middle of the pool; the fire had spread around the end to the trees on the other side. Ash and burned wood bobbed on the surface.

"Right under the waterfall," Mars said, ducking behind the curtain of water. The spray buffeted their heads and stung their skin as they passed through, but in the space between the water and the rocks it was really fairly peaceful.

"So what's the big deal, Mars?" Sailor Moon asked. "It doesn't _look_ much safer back here."

"It probably isn't," Mercury said, "but Ikasaban's less likely to hear us here, isn't that right?"

"Exactly," Mars said with satisfaction. "I've got an idea. We've got to get to where Ikasaban is, to defeat her; why don't we just try a teleport?"

"Because we don't know where she _is_, stupid," Sailor Moon answered, still annoyed. "Besides, we can only take one person in the teleport with us at a time; who were you planning to leave behind?"

"Those meatballs must be cutting off the blood flow to your brain," Mars said acidly. "We aren't going to be taking Tuxedo Mask as a _passenger_. He knows where Ikasaban's little hideout is, or at least what it looks like; he can be part of the circle, and guide us there. We'll carry Hotaru with us."

"Can we do that?" Venus wondered. "Include him, I mean?"

"I don't see why not," Mars said. "He's practically a Sailor Scout. It'll work."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Jupiter asked.

"Now?" Sailor Moon said.

"Why not now?"

"Because--uh--"

"Come on, Sailor Moon." Tuxedo Mask took her hand, and Mars reached for his on the other side. They quickly formed a circle, with Hotaru held upright between Mars and Jupiter. She hadn't moved or made a sound since their flight through the burning forest, and her breath was light and shallow. "So what do I do, exactly?" Tuxedo Mask asked. "Do we say something?"

Mars nodded. "Picture the place where you were in your mind," she said. "Concentrate on being there. You'll be leading the rest of us, so try to be as accurate as possible."

She closed her eyes, and the others did likewise. Their auras began to glow around them. "Sailor Planet Power!" they shouted in unison.

"Sailor Planet Power!" Tuxedo Mask repeated, a second later.

The teleport was awkward, since he had never done it before, but the others compensated for his clumsiness, holding the circle together in the nebulous space through which they travelled, until their feet were on sold ground again. They opened their eyes. 

"This is the place," Tuxedo Mask said, looking around the dingy basement room. The rickety chairs were there, and the card table, and even the checkerboard, though the pieces were gone. "But where's Ikasaban?"

"Here, you fools, here." The six of them turned to see the Heart Snatcher standing against the wall behind them. She had a deck of cards in her hand and was absently fingering them as she spoke. "I hope you realize what you've done. _You_, especially."

"Me?" Jupiter said in surprise.

"No, idiot, her. The Harrower. The little one."

"Hotaru?" Mars said. "What's she done?"

"It's what she's _doing_, fool. You said it yourself. She's dying, and it's entirely your fault."

"_Our_ fault?" Mars stared at her. "What do you care if she dies, anyway? You're a Heart Snatcher. Why should it matter to you?"

"Because it's affecting her," Mercury said suddenly, speaking as soon as she realized it. Her earlier nagging questions had suddenly resolved themselves in her mind. "Don't you see? Ikasaban's control over this world is based on the fact that everything in it is somehow an extension of herself. The landscape, the creatures, the water--even us. She doesn't control us, but she can't help feeling what we feel."

"So that's why she didn't just kill Hotaru," Venus realized. 

"Exactly. Hotaru was causing her pain, so she responded by trying to make the source of the pain go away. For her to kill Hotaru would be like one of us cutting off her own arm to save her life; it's possible for a person to do it, but you'd try all other alternatives first."

"Thank you for explaining everything to the slow members of the class," Ikasaban said with a sneer. "I hope you're happy. I was going to send her back, you know. I thought you didn't want to stay!"

"Of course we don't!" Sailor Moon said. "Tuxedo Mask didn't understand what you were doing, that's all." As she spoke, she was edging sideways, away from the group. Venus, seeing her, began to move in the opposite direction. Maybe they could surprise Ikasaban by sneaking up on her.

"Oh, stop it," the Heart Snatcher said tiredly. "Do you think I don't know what you're doing? I heard every word you said behind the waterfall. Do you think I don't know you're here to kill me? You couldn't manage it if you tried. Ask your boyfriend here. I can restrict all your powers as easily as I did his."

"Not while you're being affected by Hotaru," Mercury pointed out.

Ikasaban nodded. "True, which is why I'm going to send her back right now. Don't try to interfere; being pushed through a time gate like this is going to be very hard on her as it is, and I wouldn't want her to die before she's out of my field of control."

"What about the rest of us?" Mars demanded. Ikasaban smiled.

"You're not hurt. You stay." She and Hotaru both began to glow again. Hotaru rose from the floor, still not moving, and then suddenly the air around her seemed to contract and she vanished like a popped soap bubble. "There," Ikasaban said, looking visibly refreshed. "Much better."

Sailor Moon stepped forward. "Now send us home as well," she said.

Ikasaban laughed. "Don't be foolish, little girl."

"Sailor Moon, what are you doing?" Mars whispered urgently.

"You can't keep us here," Sailor Moon said. "We aren't going to let you. You might think it's fun to play games with people's lives, but I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon, I'm going to stop you!"

"And how do you plan to do that?" Ikasaban inquired, lifting a sculpted eyebrow.

"Like this." Sailor Moon reached up and removed her tiara from her forehead. She could tell the others were confused, which was no surprise; the plan was her own, and she'd only come up with it a minute ago. She took a deep breath. For a long moment, she didn't think she could do it.

Then she remembered how easily Mars had taken charge back at the pool, and her resolve firmed. _All right, maybe I'm not the greatest leader_, she thought, _but I can do this_. She clasped the now-glowing tiara tightly in her right hand and brought down its sharp edge on her other arm.

For the first few seconds, there was no pain at all, although the sight of the blood running down her arm made her want to faint. She heard the others gasp, and she wanted to reassure them that she was all right. Then suddenly it hurt a lot and she bit down hard on her lip to keep from screaming, but there didn't seem to be any point in that, since someone else was screaming very loudly anyway. It was Ikasaban, and that meant the plan was working. Sailor Moon smiled, and then she did black out.

"You see?" Mars shouted. "You can't keep us here, not if we really want to go. We're not worth trying to keep around for your amusement; we'll find a way to stop you, no matter what."

"I could just kill all of you," Ikasaban snarled. "_That_ would amuse me."

"It would hurt you," Mercury said, "and when you were done, you'd be left all alone anyway. You might as well just let us go." As she spoke, she was bending over Sailor Moon, raising the girl's arm over her head to slow the bleeding. It really wasn't a very serious cut, but the point had been well made.

"I don't want to be alone!" Ikasaban wailed. "I want to have people to play with!"

"And maybe someday you'll find some," Mars said, not without compassion. "But not us. Send us home."

"Go," Ikasaban growled. "Go, all of you. I don't need you anyway. I can--I can--" She glared at all of them, then suddenly flung out her hands. "Go!"

A wave of energy struck them, and golden light flared in their eyes. Someone screamed. Then there was a squealing sound, and someone shouted "Where do you think you're going?" and the Scouts realized, as their eyes cleared, that they were standing in the middle of a Tokyo street.

"Where are we?" Jupiter asked when they reached the sidewalk.

Mercury found a bus stop sign. "Uh--this is Kiba. We're a little ways from home, but we shouldn't have any trouble getting back."

"Maybe we should get off the street then, guys," Mars said, looking around. "We're starting to draw a crowd."

They ducked into a department store and entered the empty elevator, where they turned back to their normal forms. "We'd better find out where that thing put Hotaru," Serena said. "If we landed at Kiba, she could be anywhere."

"She probably ended up closer to home," Amy said. "After all, Ikasaban was very angry when she sent us through. In any case, the first thing we should do is phone Pluto. She's at your apartment?" Darien nodded. "Let's see if we can find a payphone, then."

Ten minutes later they were on a train for home. It was past sunset, and there were few other people on the train. Three men in suits sprawled, drunk and snoring, at the other end of the car, and a woman with a sleeping child in her lap sat reading a book in silence. The city lights flickered past the windows in streamers of neon. "I wonder what's going to happen to Ikasaban's little universe, now that Pluto's cut it loose," Amy said quietly.

"Who knows?" Raye said. "At least we won't be there to find out."

"Yeah," Serena agreed. "She'll probably die of old age--do Heart Snatchers do that?"

"We've never left one around long enough to find out," Lita said with a grin.

Serena's communicator beeped, and she pulled it out of her pocket. It was Luna. "They've found Hotaru," the cat reported. "Amara checked the local hospitals; someone found her on the sidewalk and brought her in. We're going to phone her father. The doctor said she'd be fine."

"That's great, Luna!" Serena said. "We'll see you in a little while, okay? Bye."

"I don't see why Heart Snatchers would die of old age," Mina said to Lita. "I guess they might wear out or something--they don't need to last very long--but who knows?"

Amy nodded. "She might live a very long time," she said. "Maybe even long enough for her little bubble of space to latch on somewhere else. Wouldn't that be something?"

"You sound almost jealous, Amy," Mina said teasingly. 

"Well, I am, a little. Wouldn't that be fascinating? To be on your way to another universe?" She shook her head, smiling a little. "Such a wonderful opportunity, and it's wasted on a Heart Snatcher. There's no justice."

"I don't care about that," Mina said. She looked out the window. They were passing the Tokyo Tower. In a few minutes they would be back where they belonged. "I'm glad to be home."

End.


End file.
